T in the Park 2012 – Saturday (Review)

After a dry Friday the rain was heavy enough to cause havoc. Not enough to put off the event but enough to make organisers relocate the Slam Tent. The crowd were visibly pumped, assumingly, due to the action packed Friday line-up. The rain was not going to put off the Balado crowd.

So lets take Saturday’s line-up slightly out of sequence, largely as its all about The Stone Roses. The Stone Roses never had a chance to play T in the Park, even though every act since that has imitated or been heavily influenced by them, probably has. Ironically, prior to The Stone Roses going on, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds were on stage.

The Stone Roses at T in the Park 2012

This isn’t to discredit Noel Gallagher or his new Birds project, but they simple aren’t B. Then again not many are anywhere near the legends of Indie, Brit Rock or Britpop whatever you want to call it. The closest probably was Oasis.

Having Stone Roses play was more than an act of nostalgia, although when they played their classics it did roll back the years. Put simply they weren’t a token band from our childhood to make us hark back, unlike Simple Minds her were on the bill (back to that later). The band entered the stage to The Supremes, with Ian Brown greeting the crowd not with some heartfelt sentiment, simply with a trademark “how ya doin’?”

The boys have obviously aged, but their character and energy hasn’t dwindled in the slightest. Ian Brown rocking around with a tartan scarf on his wrist, John Squire looked very smart in his white jacket and Reni the highlight donning a Brazil shirt.

The Stone Roses were absolutely on top form. Some critics have questioned the opening, but for me the set was first class from start to finish. Neatly bouncing from classic to classic with a few interpretations of other band’s material being intertwined. One of the best “covers” was Beatles classic ‘Day Tripper’ which they expertly performed linking with ‘Driving South’.

The highlights for me were a massively epic ‘Fools Good’ and for different reasons ‘Where Angels Play’. I also loved ‘Love Spreads’ with Ian Brown showing off his rapping capability. Whilst I have no idea whether these performances from The Stone Roses indicate a full comeback and new material, I am happy to say I have now been able to see them. I was too young first time round, but loved their music. The Stone Roses, legends!

Anyway, we mentioned Simple Minds, so how did they do? Well their set received a mixed reaction from the assembled crowd. Simple Minds came out and looked every inch the elder rockers, not really the vibrant act from their 80s heyday. But that is hardly surprising, none of us look the same as we did 25 years ago.

However, the set never really reached any fever pitch to get the majority going. Don’t get me wrong the crowd was pretty distinct in its make-up. There seemed to be a section of faithfuls who were there to eulogise over Simple Minds and they were really in to it. However the large minority just didn’t get in to it, that was until the monster hits came on. The crowd came to life when ‘Don’t You, Forget About Me’ and ‘Alive and Kicking’ came on. Singing in unison, but those were rare occasions.

After we gave Dappy a less than positive review recently we thought we should give him the benefit of the doubt. It seems we weren’t the only ones to react badly to him recently, or maybe the modest crowd was due to the fact of the clash with Scottish act Django Django. So have we been unfair on the former N’Dubz frontman?

In short, no! Whilst he is taking his solo career seriously, his lack of ability means that the rest of us aren’t. Don’t get me wrong, he tried his hardest, he just never really got on top of his performance. His singing was weak and he also exposed that he genuinely isn’t a rapper. Obviously with the breakup of N’Dubz he had to try a solo career, he just simply isn’t up to it. His public dissing of the likes of Simon Cowell aint gonna help much either.

One of the funniest, but equally most embarrassing moments of T in the Park this year was when Dappy enthusiastically asked who was going to buy his album. The only thing you could hear in reply was the sound of the teddy bear being dropped by the grabber in the fairground! Sorry Dappy, don’t think many of that lot will be.

He closed his set with ‘No Regrets’ which in all honesty wasn’t that bad. I don’t know if that was relative or not, but I actually found myself tapping my foot. I managed to sort myself out though and get control. Another moment of amusement in the Dappy set was when he flung himself in to the crowd. Now after watching Dynamo do his jump recently this was weak. However, the main source of amusement was when Dappy kind of looked around and tried to work out a way back to the stage. The crowd did feel sorry for him though as they kindly threw a pint on stage for him.

However, a surprise highlight was Emeli Sande. Maybe the crowd just added the electric due to the fact she is scottish. But Emeli Sande was continually thanking the crowd for putting up with the horrific conditions, some were ankle deep in mud. The medley of Bob Marley classics including ‘One Love’ was brilliant.

We didn’t get to see Calvin Harris which is a real shame, due to the clash with Stone Roses, but the people we spoke to who did see his set, said that it was another great show. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds were average. Rizzle Kicks did OK, but their limited catalogue of tracks was highlighted with a small set. Jessis J was apparently good, but again we never saw her.

The highlight of the dance acts was definitely David Guetta, demonstrating exactly why his is billed as a superstar DJ. Ploughing through hit after hit, Guetta showed the breadth of his abilities, wowing a massive crowd. The only dance act that has the potential to top this show has to be Swedish House Mafia who are playing on Sunday.

Saturday was a great day, despite the weather. Good performances from a few acts but a massive show from The Stone Roses.